Historic performance by Indian women, winning the T20 series in Australia for the first time

New Delhi: India defeated Australia by 17 runs in the third and decisive match to win the series 2-1. The Indian women’s team made history with this victory. This is the first time Team India has won a T20 series on Australian soil. In the third match played in Adelaide on Saturday, India scored 176 runs for six wickets in 20 overs with the help of half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana (82) and Jemimah Rodrigues (59). In reply, Australia could only manage 159 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the stipulated overs. In this match, Sri Charani and Shreyanka Patil took three wickets each for India, while Arundhati Reddy took two wickets. Renuka Singh took one wicket.

Australia’s innings
Chasing the target of 177 runs, the Australian team got off to a poor start. Shreyanka Patil had Georgia Wall caught by Renuka. She managed just 10 runs. Renuka took the second wicket, dismissing Beth Mooney for just six. In the decisive match against India, Ashleigh Gardner top-scored for Australia with 57 runs, while six other batsmen failed to reach double figures. Ellyse Perry scored one, Grace Harris scored one, and captain Sophie Molineux scored six. Kim Garth and Darcie Brown remained unbeaten on seven and eight runs, respectively.

The team recovered after the initial setback.

Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma opened the innings for India. However, Shafali couldn’t stay at the crease for long, and was dismissed by Kim Garth. Shefali was dismissed after scoring seven runs. Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues then took charge and forged a formidable partnership. They steadied the Indian innings. Mandhana completed her half-century with a six, while Jemimah also managed to score a fifty.

Besides Mandhana and Jemima, other batsmen flopped.

Apart from Mandhana and Jemima, the other batsmen in the Indian women’s team flopped and failed to play big innings. Mandhana top-scored for India with 82 runs off 55 balls, including eight fours and three sixes. Jemima was dismissed for 59 runs off 46 balls, including four fours. Richa Ghosh scored 18 runs off seven balls, including two fours and a six, while Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma were dismissed for one run. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur remained unbeaten on two runs. For Australia, Annabel Sutherland took two wickets, while Kim Garth and Molineux each took one wicket.

India made one change to the playing XI.

Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and decided to bat first. India made one change to the playing XI. Shreyanka Patil replaced Kranti Goud. Australia also made one change, replacing Nick Carey with Grace Harris.

Playing XI for both teams:
India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Sri Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur.

Australia: Beth Mooney (wicketkeeper), Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Grace Harris, Kim Garth, Sophie Molineux (captain), Darcie Brown.